The "Ag-Lab" in England - 1700 to 1860 ************************************** In the 18th Century 75% of England's population were employed as farm labourers in England where only 6% of the male population could vote. The hierarchical system was three-tiered - 1. The landlord: most of the land was owned by the gentry; 2. The farmer: he rented the land from the gentry; 3. the landless labourer (ag-lab), a peasant, who did the work. We have no real written records of how our ag-lab ancestors lived in the 1700's, most if not all were illiterate, but if a small-holder, life was bearable. They would have been able to farm on "common land" leased from it's wealthy proprietor who owned large areas in the district. The land was divided into long narrow strips, although as farms were passed down to family members it's area grew smaller with succeeding generations. The common land allowed peasants to grow their own vegetables, raise and graze their animals and to gather fuel for their fires, but if the harvest was smaller than usual or if any other unexpected losses had happened, winter could be cold, long and a hungry time, eking out the food and other supplies stored over the year. In the 1700's, the farm labourer's house was one room on the first floor and one room above it - no sanitation, no water, poor hygiene and bathing was infrequent and a luxury... "...But all the boys and young men swam naked in the river in the summertime. It was our biggest happiness. Boys were washed until they were about two, then their bodies didn't see water again until they learnt to swim. We didn't look dirty..." (anon) when they did bathe, the water was cold. All transportation was on foot. Today thatched cottages are considered "quaint" but the thatched homes of the 1800's were not inviting. The wealthiest rural poor lived in a four-room cottage with a roof and walls that leaked water allowing dirt and bird droppings to ooze below. Many had floors of earth, often damp or they were covered with crushed rock, called "clutch". Sometimes bricks were laid over the clutch. Agricultural unskilled labourers who did not own land worked for a farmer and were the lowest class in rural English society. At that time, there was a huge emphasis on class distinction - you married within your "class". The wealthy landowner had servants - the more they had, the more they gained status in society to display their wealth. It was common for farmers to have servant girls - they cost less and a male servant was taxed. However, a male servant gave one much more status. Besides the domestic servants, there were coachmen (who maintained and drove the carriage) the groom (who took care of the horses) gardeners and gamekeepers (to protect the game - rabbits, pheasants, etc. from poaching. A maid working from 6am to 11pm at night, received just £11 to £14 per year. The principal land use was growing grain or raising sheep for wool - both required a lot of manual labour. Farming tools were common, but until machines were invented, animals were raised for food, and until ploughs were invented, not used extensively for cultivating or growing field crops. Rural life depended on good weather in the summer resulting in a good crop as a long winter meant hunger and discomfort. People rose with the sun and went to bed when darkness fell. Farms were ploughed in the late autumn or winter and wheat (the most common and profitable crop), barley, and oats were planted - these grains were collectively referred to as 'corn' (today's Corn, maize, did not exist in England.) Sheep were grazed throughout the field to fertilise the crops and after cultivation, the soil was harrowed to break it into smaller chunks. Wheat was cut with the sickle, or an old-fashioned cradle and then carried to the barn. A team of five men working all day would harvest about two acres using a small sickle at the beginning of the 1800's -a scythe was used in the second half of the century. (There were just three holidays: Good Friday, Shrove Tuesday, and Christmas Day) Wives of the harvesters were employed to rake the cut corn into rows ready to be tied into sheaves and numbers of women, boys, and girls worked at various tasks and were paid much less than adult males. They were allowed to glean the fields for grain for own use after a harvest - it was not until The Agricultural Children's Act of 1875 had prevented children under ten from working in the fields. In winter, the wheat was threshed by walking in a circle and beating the wheat with the flail until the grain separated from the chaff or straw. After winnowing (sifted to separate the grain from the chaff or straw) it was placed into bags and taken to the mill to be ground into flour for bread-making. (Threshing machines were not invented until at the beginning of the 1800's) Jobs which were almost exclusively done by adult male workers were the care of farm animals, milking cows, feeding pigs, herding and shearing sheep and looking after the poultry along with trimming and layering hedges and maintaining the farm buildings, fences, gates, farm tracks, ditches and ponds, carting, cutting wood and making faggots; the reaping and weeding were done by both men and women. Before enclosure (pre 1800), a cottager with a pig or two, a cow and some poultry on the common had the right to gather firewood and could maintain a certain measure of economic independence. However by 1800, new methods of agriculture machinery were developed and parishes recognised land use would be more efficient in larger plots so enclosure i.e. "the process of inclosing (with fences, ditches, hedges, or other barriers) land formerly subject to common rights". Prior to enclosure, there were common areas that belonged to everyone and here peasants could gather wood and grow a few crops. This land was returned to the control of the landowners and redistributed and was no longer available for the poor to use. Scavenging (or poaching) on someone else's land became illegal, and small farmers (who had no political influence and were generally given the poorer plots) often lost access to wood and water and this greatly increased hardship for the rural poor. The process was not standardised until the General Enclosure Act of 1801 (Inclosure), when enclosure became common and forced many peasants to move to the city in the hope of finding new work. After enclosure he often became a dependent waged labourer. Squires and farmers prospered as never before but the labourers' share of the wealth which they had toiled to create, increased very little. Around this time many labourers went to work for farmers who owned or rented several cottages or houses where his workers and their family lived. The cottage may have been free or leased at a small rent to them and a small vegetable garden could be planted nearby for own use. This allowed a family to continue to live in the same cottage for more than one generation and made for a stronger relationship between the farmer and his workers. Labourers' children were encouraged to begin farm work 'as young as possible' (about 10 years old) However, the farmer had no legal obligation to the labourer and could drive the family out of the cottage at any time. In 1811, some members of the Church of England became appalled that lower-class children could not read the Bible. They started Sunday Schools first. These gradually became weekday elementary schools and by 1839, became so popular that these Church of England schools were supported with public funds. This was the only way the poor got a higher education in England in the 19th century. By 1862, the government required standards. Boys and girls were required by the end of the 'sixth standard' (tested) to read and write simple passages and to do arithmetic. However as late as 1871, more than 19% of men and 26% of women getting married still could only make an X next to their name in the parish register. Children that grew up on the farms, by age 10, did jobs suitable for children such as scaring birds from crops advancing to more skilled jobs as they grew older. By the 1830s, with increased mechanisation and the Industrial revolution, the introduction of the seed drill and threshing machines took away valuable work from the labourers, and worse still, replaced them and labourers left England or moved to the cities to find employment. This led to the 'Swing' riots breaking out in the southern counties of England, areas most affected by enclosure. The rioters were demanding a minimum wage, the end of rural unemployment, and tithe and rent reductions. The riots took the form of machine breaking (the hated threshing machines), arson, meetings and general unrest. These riots were the first demonstration of agricultural unrest and this unrest continued particularly after the passing of the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. Many unskilled labourers turned to hiring fairs, which became a popular way for desperate rural labourers to find work. Prospective workers would gather in the village street or market place, often sporting some sort of badge or tool to denote their speciality, shepherds held a crook or a tuft of wool, cowmen brought wisps of straw, dairymaids carried a milking stool or pail and housemaids held brooms or mops, this is why some hiring fairs were known as mop fairs. Employers would look them over and, if they were thought fit, hire them for the coming year, handing over a shilling to seal the arrangement. Both male and female agricultural servants would gather in order to bargain with prospective employers and, hopefully, secure a position. The yearly hiring included board and lodging for single employees for the whole year with wages being paid at the end of the year's service. By the 1840's most farm labourers 'lived in' on the farm and shared the family table at meal times. Other casual labourers from the neighbourhood would be hired to supplement their work in busy periods. Travelling to the hiring fair and from there to a farm explains the sometimes surprising mobility of some ag-lab ancestors. Once at the farm a worker might meet and fall in love with a farm servant from another village and decide to get married. If married, farm servants were obliged to live out and had to find lodgings in the surrounding villages. Before 1834 poor relief was dealt with at parish level. It had its basis in the early 17th century when it had been introduced as a way to alleviate distress and to ensure public order. It was up to poor law guardians to decide who was eligible for help, and as they often knew the recipients, it could be a fair system. Labourers could ask for 'outdoor' relief to supplement their loss of wages due to illness or unemployment. The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 aimed to do away with outdoor relief and make the workhouse the only way of accessing help. It was hoped that this would act as a deterrent and make sure that only the genuinely destitute would apply. Bad harvests and wet summers in the 1840s and in the 1850s reduced a worker's earnings in some cases to six shillings a week - one described his daily diet as follows: "After attending the horses, ate a breakfast consisting of flour and butter with water poured over it, worked in the fields until midday then ate a piece of bread and occasionally cheese. Supper consisted of bread or potatoes and water, sometimes a little bacon (a luxury for many). At harvest time his master gave him an allowance of beer or cider. A FAMILY BUDGET reported in 1843 gave an example of a weekly family budget: Name Earnings Age Robert Crick 9s.0d 42 Wife 9d 40 Boy 2s.0d 12 Boy 1s.0d 11 Boy 1s.0d 8 Girl Nil 6 Boy Nil 4 Food etc.: Bread 9s.0d Potatoes 1s.0d Rent 1s.2d Tea 2d Sugar 3d Soap 3d Blue 1/2d Thread etc 2d Candles 3d Salt 1/2d Coal/Wood 9d Butter 5d Cheese 3d Total Earned: 13s.9d Total Spend: 13s.9d The women and daughters would have worked in the dairy, vegetable plots or in the house. Their lives may have seemed secure but they were at the mercy of their employer who could, without any notice, lower their wages or even turn them out of their cottages if they felt they could no longer afford to employ them or if they had become too old or too sick to work. Agricultural labourers with families to support and no specialised skills to offer were hired on a casual basis for specific tasks. They would be paid only for the work they did and received nothing if they were sick or if the weather was too bad for them to work. Wages were, in general, very low and unemployment due to a surplus in the labour force was high. Many agricultural labourers had to depend on poor relief to help them through the difficult times, but even this couldn't be relied upon as changes in the poor laws took place during the 19th century. The average farm labourer had one cooked meal per week - they did not have ovens. There was likely a small garden in which they would grow vegetables, keep chickens, or even raise a pig. Bread, milk, cheese, eggs, and beer were staple foods. They almost never had meat, sugar, or tea. Cheese and bacon were favourite and rare foods for the poor and Pudding which contained blood and spice and smoked well to give it a strong taste was a favourite lower class dish. Bread was baked in an oven built of brick with an iron door at the community bake house. The bake house had a grate at the bottom and wood was burned below to get the oven hot. After it came to temperature, the bread dough was placed on top of the grate. When the bread was baked, the ashes were picked out of it. Boiling food was more common than baking it. .."One of our great desires was to have cake. Nearly all our food was boiled on account of there being no oven in most of the cottages.".. A 'treat' was any party where you could eat cake. Drinking water was obtained from a well or stream and brought to the cottage in pots. Water pumps replaced wells in the early 1800's however it was often contaminated so people drank tea and beer instead. Beer or cider was provided free to the labourers working in the fields. Stopping at 'sevensies, ninesies, elevensies, dinner and foursies', it was recorded they would drink a pint of home-brewed beer at each stop. If a labourer wanted to drink after work, he went to the pub. The pub was distinctly disreputable and disapproved of, not only because it was the resort of the poor, but because it led them out of the peculiarly straight and narrow way that was all that Victorian respectability permitted them. As the century wore on the condition of our agricultural labourer ancestors and the way they were perceived by the more fortunate parts of the population deteriorated. They were badly paid and their 'cottages' were often small and in a sorry state of repair. They were seen as idle, unskilled and unintelligent, however the range of farm work that these 'unskilled' people were expected to undertake, shows just how little the perceived view of the time was justified. General Farm labour in 1809 *************************** Excerpts below from "A General View of the Agriculture of the County of Berwick with Observations on the Means of its Improvement" by Robert Kerr. This report was drawn up for the Board of Agricultures and Internal Improvement in 1808. *************************** The regular and constant servants of every farm consists of hinds, or married ploughmen, who are yearly servants from Whitsunday to Whitsunday; and single men who live in their master's houses, and are hired half yearly, as likewise are the household women servants. Upon every farm, according to its size, a certain number of hinds, or married men servants, are kept, who may be called ploughman, each of whom takes the charge of, and works, a pair of horses, in whatever way they may be required. Each hind has a cottage upon the farm, of one room, which he furnishes at his own expense, and is allowed the keep of a cow, six months on pasture, and six months in the house upon straw, with a regulated allowance of coarse hay, or turnips, or something equivalent, about calving time. The whole produce from this cow, which they purchase themselves, is their own property, but they are not allowed to keep a calf upon the farm. They are allowed ground on which to plant one or two firlots of potatoes, from 1 to 3 bushels, all the horse culture of which is given by the farm strength, and all the hand culture by their wives and children, at their own cost. Each has permission to sow a peck of linseed, the whole hand culture of which, and its preparation into flax, devolves upon his family. For the most part each is allowed to keep three hens, which they generally exceed. They receive a certain stipulated quantity of grain, instead of wages, according to bargain, from 13 to 15 bolls of six bushels each, and a yearly allowance in money, according to agreement, from 30 to 40 shillings each, in name of sheep silver, being a commutation of an ancient permission of keeping a few sheep upon the farm. They likewise have their food during harvest, as their wives are then employed in reaping, and they have the carriage of their coals gratis, which they must purchase themselves. Estimating the whole at the present average rates, the expense of a Berwickshire hind, all his yearly gains, may have been adds under (shown below) during the year from Whitsunday 1806 to Whitsunday 1807, or from Whitsunday 1807 to the same term in 1808. Allowance in money £2 0s 0d 10 bolls of oats, or 60 bushels at 21 shillings £10 10s 10d 4 bolls of barley, or 24 bushels at 22 shillings £4 8s 0d 1 boll peas or beans, or six bushels £1 8s 0d --------- This may be called wages: £18 6s 0d Keep of a cow the whole year at sixpence a day £9 2s 6d Value of potatoes, 5 bolls at 8 shillings £2 0s 0d Value of flax 10s 0d Allowance of poultry 10s od Harvest fruit, and allowance while leading £1 10s 0d Carriage of 4 carts of coals £1 0s 0d ---------- These may be called gains: £14 12s 6d Total income: £32 18s 6d ---------- The value of the cottage and small cabbage garden is not estimated, as the hinds wife is generally bound to shear during harvest without wages, but with full harvest food, and must work at all outdoor labour, especially hoeing and hay harvest, for the customary wages of the country. They have other advantages, in, indeed with all other country labourers and cottagers, as their wives and children, from the moment they can handle a hoe or weed hook, are never in want of outwork, for which they received ample wages, except during the dead of winter, when they attend the parochial schools. Their boys soon go to place, first as cowherds, and afterwards as single servants in farmers families. The girls begin early at outwork, and afterwards go to service. In fact a hinds family, after the first few years of helpless infancy has been got over, is riches; and often contributes to maintain him when past labour. Nothing is wanting, except that they should all belong to benefit clubs, after their support in old age, to render their situations most completely comfortable and independent. Upon most farms, an upper servant, farm steward, or bailiff is employed, to whom the special orders for farm work are communicated, and who sees it executed, and takes charge of corning the horses. To him, likewise, the charge of sowing, stacking, and thrashing, is confided. In smaller farms he usually works a pair of horses, as one of the hinds; but on larger farms, he mostly superintends only. He is paid like the hinds, in grain and money, with such additional wages or gains as may be agreed upon, seldom exceeding from three to five pounds above the other servants. Every farm of any extent has a shepherd, who receives hinds wages and allowances, and has, in addition, the right of keeping an agreed number of ewes along with the flock of the farm. In the lower country, usually from three to six ewes, which he finds as his own cost, and has the whole of their produce in wool and lambs. He is likewise allowed 1, 2, or three young sheep, ewe hogs, and gimmers, to replace his old or cast ewes. In Lammermoor, the herds flock is considerably more numerous; and as, upon large breeding farms, the principal shepherd is often obliged to keep 1, 2 or more under herds, a special bargain for their wages and maintenance is entered into according to circumstances, usually paid in oatmeal, and the allowance of two or more cows, with a proportional addition to his sheep flock. Besides the hinds or married servants, most farmers keep 1, 2, or more single servants, or unmarried lads, who live in the house, and each work a pair of horses. There are half yearly servants, with money wages, having their full board in the farmers kitchen. Their wages vary, from five or six pounds, up to 12 for the half year. The labouring work on the farm, as hay mowing, hedging, ditching, draining and the like, is performed by hired labourers upon day wages, or upon contracts by piecework. When hired for the whole year round, from half a guinea to 12 shillings a week. Upon the large farms there usually is one or two such labourers, having cottages, for which their wives have to shear. Such labourers may earn from £25 to £30 yearly, besides their harvest wages and food, and generally have extraordinary wages for mowing hay. Their families have the same opportunities of gain, as already mentioned respecting hinds, and their whole yearly earnings may be very nearly similar to those of the hinds. The hours of labour during eight months are from six in the morning till six in the evening, with one hour for breakfast and one for dinner, at nine and one respectively. In the four winter months of November, December, January, and February, work continues during good light, when frost allows, and breakfast is taken before work begins. Piecework varies according to agreement; and has been already noticed in several foregoing sections of this report, under the particular heads to which these works refer, especially draining, hedging, and ditching. Turnip hoeing has sometimes been contracted for, twice over, and the farmer to be satisfied with its cleanness, at from four to seven shillings an acre; mowing hay at from three to five shillings; reaping and stooking, without food, at from 10 to 15 shillings, all by the acre, but such contract work is by no means general. What is called out-work, as helping to fill muck carts, spreading the muck, setting and hoeing potatoes, hoeing turnips, carrying seed to the sowers, hoeing drilled grain, weeding, gathering surface stones, haymaking, and the like, are mostly performed by women and young people of either sex, but mostly girls. These have day wages, which vary from 9d to one shilling as can be agreed upon; 15 years ago they were only from 4d to 6d. This kind of work is performed under the superintendance of the farm steward, where one is kept that does not work horses, and often under a grieve hired for the season. It has already been mentioned that cottages are attached to almost every farm, for the hinds at least, and often to the day labourers that are almost constantly employed... It was customary to have a few other cottages upon the larger farms, let to weavers chiefly, and their occupiers bound to shear at the ordinary wages, and to supply certain outworkers when wanted; but these are now fast falling into disuse, owing to the great expense of repairs, and such people now live in the country villages, whence the farmers hire what labourers of all kinds they may need. ****************************************************************************** The average wages of an unskilled male adult Agricultural Labourer: Year Weekly wage 1850 9s 3 1/2d 1851 9s 2 1/2d 1852 9s 3d 1853 9s 11d 1854 10s 8d 1855 10s 11 1/2d 1856 11s 0 1/2d 1857 10s 11 1/2d 1858 10s 9 1/2d 1859 10s 8 1/2d 1860 10s 11d 1861 11s 1d 1862 11s 1d 1863 11s 0d 1864 11s 0 1/2d 1865 11s 3d 1866 11s 6d 1867 11s 11d 1868 12s 0d 1869 11s 8 1/2d 1870 11s 10 1/2d 1871 12s 1d 1872 12s 8 1/2d 1873 13s 4d 1874 13s 11 1/2d 1875 14s 0d 1876 14s 1 1/2d 1877 14s 1 1/2d 1878 14s 0 1/2d 1879 13s 8 1/2d 1880 13s 7 1/2d 1881 13s 7 1/2d 1882 13s 7 1/2d 1883 13s 8d 1884 13s 7 1/2d 1885 13s 5 1/2d 1886 13s 4d 1887 13s 2 1/2d 1888 13s 2 1/2d 1889 13s 4d 1890 13s 6d 1891 13s 9 1/2d 1892 13s 10d 1893 13s 9d 1894 13s 9d 1895 13s 8 1/2d 1896 13s 9d 1897 13s 10 1/2d 1898 14s 1 1/2d 1899 14s 4d 1900 14s 10d 1901 14s 11d 1902 14s 11 1/2d 1903 14s 11 1/2d 1904 14s 11 1/2d 1905 15s 0d 1906 15s 1d 1910 15s 4d 1914 16s 9d **************************************************************************** Sources: British Labour Statistics: Historical Abstract 1886-1968 (Department of Employment and Productivity, 1971) "English Life in the Nineteenth Century" by Roger Hart, 1971 winsomegriffin.com/ www.hearthtax.org.uk/ www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ukwales2/hicks3.html www.british-history.ac.uk/ familysearch.org/ www.encyclopedia.com/ www.longparish.org.uk www.projectbook.co.uk/